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Noughties Nostalgia – We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming of international tension, inflation woes, and planetary doomscrolling to bring you this important message: it’s 2003 again. At least, spiritually.
From TikTok to Twitter, a full-blown Noughties Nostalgia Boom has arrived. Butterfly clips. Low-rise jeans. Crazy Frog. Dial-up tones echoing in the collective memory like war cries from the land before fibre broadband.
Why Now?
Because the modern world is complicated, and the early 2000s were, frankly, dumb in a way that feels safe. People are turning to their past like it’s a time machine made of VHS tapes, glittery Myspace pages, and Avril Lavigne posters.
One cultural commentator told Newsfangled: “When the present feels unmanageable, nostalgia offers emotional refuge. And the 2000s, with their neon chaos and digital innocence, are the current safe space of choice.”
Top Signs You’re Part of the Trend:
- You’ve re-downloaded Snake on your phone (ironically, of course).
- You’ve posted a throwback pic with the caption “Take me back 😭”
- You can still remember your Bebo password (but please, don’t log in. Some things are sacred.)
- You’ve tried to explain LimeWire to someone under 20—and cried.
- You instinctively know how to pair Bluetooth with a Nokia 3310.
Top Signs You’re Part of the Trend:
It’s More Than Fashion
Sure, the waistbands are lower and the belts are somehow belts and skirts, but this nostalgia boom is more than aesthetics. There’s been a revival in:
- Music: Early 2000s playlists are trending on Spotify. Think Sugababes, Usher, Destiny’s Child, Natasha Bedingfield, and whatever was playing in Claire’s Accessories.
- Food: Frubes. Sunny D. Pop Tarts. Turkey Twizzlers (yes, they’re back).
- TV: Rewatching Skins, The OC, and Big Brother Season 4 like it’s Shakespeare.
- Toys & Gadgets: Tamagotchis. Flip phones. iPods with scroll wheels. Someone even spotted a functioning CD walkman in a London Pret.
Even tech is in on it: influencers are filming daily vlogs using digital cameras from 2005 because apparently your iPhone is too “clean.”
Why the 2000s?
The early noughties sat in that sweet spot: post-Y2K panic but pre-social media doom. It was an era of awkward optimism—when your problems could be solved with a text from your crush, a burned CD mix, or a trip to Woolworths. The economy hadn’t tanked (yet), the climate crisis wasn’t headline news, and your biggest daily stress was whether you’d made it into your best mate’s Top 8 on Myspace.
Newsfangled Explains: Why This Is (Sort Of) Healthy
Nostalgia, when wielded responsibly, isn’t about being stuck—it’s about reconnecting with a time when hope felt accessible. And no one can deny that the early 2000s, in all their flip-phone chaos, felt full of promise (even if your ringtone was Dragostea Din Tei).
So if you’re wearing cargo pants again and quoting Paris Hilton like it’s scripture, go easy on yourself. You’re not regressing. You’re coping.
Reader Memories Wanted!
What are your favourite noughties moments? The moment your crush sent you a winky face on MSN?
The agony of having your internet cut off when your mum picked up the house phone?
Your first MP3 player loaded with LimeWire viruses?
Let us know in the comments. Bonus points if you still own a functioning Tamagotchi—or better yet, a flip phone with a charm.